אדריכלות ישראלית

Architecture of Israel #

112

February

2018

House of the Season

page

english readers

Results weren’t long in coming – most

houses designed in the first decade of the

21st century were characterized by an

obsession with restrained cubes.

However, in contrast to Modernism, which

was based on a firm theoretical rationale

whereby form is faithfully bound to function,

the cube, lacking any defined function,

remains anonymous and expressionless.

The cube-shaped house presented here

could have been built anywhere, from

Ramat Hasharon to Ramat Hagolan. A quiet,

spacious house that maximized the building

rights granted by master plan guidelines,

which by the way barely change from one

place to another, since they are determined

by the Planning and Building Law.

In this situation it was relatively easy for

the designer to put herself in the architect’s

shoes, although not without challenges.

“I was given a cold, hard structure and felt

my main task was to imbue it with warm

vitality. I grew up on a kibbutz and a sense

of spaciousness was intrinsic to my way of

thinking as a designer.

house of the season

warm smile

anonymous cube

Shira Shenton

If one word could accurately sum up the architecture of the 21st century,

it would be “confusion”. On one hand, unlimited design capability enabled

on the smart screen that travels everywhere with us, and on the other – a

nostalgic yearning for something personal and stable, to reconnect with

our unique identity - gone missing in the global reality.

Previous to this was a return to the Modernist sanity of the 30s’ with the act

of a restart after three decades of painfully Post-Modern shrillness, which

flooded the world with the meaningless fantasies of architects and their

clients, both screaming out their suppressed aspirations.

The question I asked myself was how

to reconcile my personal aspiration for

freedom, with the client’s declared need for

intimacy.

“I felt that this severe looking house needed

a little conceptual flexibility – and some

design humor to give it a home-like sense

of warmth. An almost instinctive answer was

to mark a focal point with stigma free lines.

“This stands out especially when entering

the house and a linear lighting fixture above

the dining area gives the space a presence,

reminiscent of my childhood games – five

sticks, ladders we used to climb to high,

forbidden places… and Hora dancing.

“On some of the white walls I put pictures

of world cities to give significance to

rooms lacking identity. For this, colors and

materials were carefully chosen to suit the

different users’ - ‘going with (aspirations)

and feeling without’ in the spatial openness

and functional intimacy.

“This is clearly expressed in the balance

of relations between the purple wall on

the living room floor, while allowing each

bedroom to be decorated according to

its owner’s personal choice. Within this

frame, the house owner was given special

attention, letting him influence the design of

shelves in the basement – a type of bar that

deliberately deviates from wall limitations,

an elegant successful attempt to think out

of the box.

Interior Design:

Alejandra Oren.

Architect:

Dan and Hila Israelevitz

Alejandra Oren